Review and outlook of solar energetic particle measurements on multispacecraft missions

The earliest evidence of spatial distributions of solar energetic particles (SEPs) compared events from many different source longitudes on the Sun, but the early Pioneers provided the first evidence of the large areas of equal SEP intensities across the magnetically confined “reservoirs” late in th...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Donald V. Reames
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-08-01
Series:Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2023.1254266/full
_version_ 1797730311506755584
author Donald V. Reames
author_facet Donald V. Reames
author_sort Donald V. Reames
collection DOAJ
description The earliest evidence of spatial distributions of solar energetic particles (SEPs) compared events from many different source longitudes on the Sun, but the early Pioneers provided the first evidence of the large areas of equal SEP intensities across the magnetically confined “reservoirs” late in the events. More detailed measurements of the importance of self-generated waves and trapping structures around the shock waves that accelerate SEPs were obtained from the Helios mission plus IMP 8, especially during the year when the two Voyager spacecraft also happened by. The extent of the dozen widest SEP events in a solar cycle, which effectively wrap around the Sun, was revealed by the widely separated STEREO spacecraft with three-point intensities fit to Gaussians. Element abundances of the broadest SEP events favor average coronal element abundances with little evidence of heavy-element-enhanced “impulsive suprathermal” ions that often dominate the seed population of the shocks, even in extremely energetic local events. However, it is hard to define a distribution with two or three points. Advancing the physics of SEPs may require a return to the closer spacing of the Helios era with coverage mapped by a half-dozen spacecraft to help disentangle the distribution of the SEPs from the underlying structure of the magnetic field and the accelerating shock.
first_indexed 2024-03-12T11:42:26Z
format Article
id doaj.art-474a46de36bd445186e0ad678aefbb9f
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2296-987X
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-12T11:42:26Z
publishDate 2023-08-01
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format Article
series Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
spelling doaj.art-474a46de36bd445186e0ad678aefbb9f2023-08-31T13:08:56ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences2296-987X2023-08-011010.3389/fspas.2023.12542661254266Review and outlook of solar energetic particle measurements on multispacecraft missionsDonald V. ReamesThe earliest evidence of spatial distributions of solar energetic particles (SEPs) compared events from many different source longitudes on the Sun, but the early Pioneers provided the first evidence of the large areas of equal SEP intensities across the magnetically confined “reservoirs” late in the events. More detailed measurements of the importance of self-generated waves and trapping structures around the shock waves that accelerate SEPs were obtained from the Helios mission plus IMP 8, especially during the year when the two Voyager spacecraft also happened by. The extent of the dozen widest SEP events in a solar cycle, which effectively wrap around the Sun, was revealed by the widely separated STEREO spacecraft with three-point intensities fit to Gaussians. Element abundances of the broadest SEP events favor average coronal element abundances with little evidence of heavy-element-enhanced “impulsive suprathermal” ions that often dominate the seed population of the shocks, even in extremely energetic local events. However, it is hard to define a distribution with two or three points. Advancing the physics of SEPs may require a return to the closer spacing of the Helios era with coverage mapped by a half-dozen spacecraft to help disentangle the distribution of the SEPs from the underlying structure of the magnetic field and the accelerating shock.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2023.1254266/fullsolar energetic particlesshock wavescoronal mass ejectionssolar jetssolar system abundancesmultispacecraft missions
spellingShingle Donald V. Reames
Review and outlook of solar energetic particle measurements on multispacecraft missions
Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
solar energetic particles
shock waves
coronal mass ejections
solar jets
solar system abundances
multispacecraft missions
title Review and outlook of solar energetic particle measurements on multispacecraft missions
title_full Review and outlook of solar energetic particle measurements on multispacecraft missions
title_fullStr Review and outlook of solar energetic particle measurements on multispacecraft missions
title_full_unstemmed Review and outlook of solar energetic particle measurements on multispacecraft missions
title_short Review and outlook of solar energetic particle measurements on multispacecraft missions
title_sort review and outlook of solar energetic particle measurements on multispacecraft missions
topic solar energetic particles
shock waves
coronal mass ejections
solar jets
solar system abundances
multispacecraft missions
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2023.1254266/full
work_keys_str_mv AT donaldvreames reviewandoutlookofsolarenergeticparticlemeasurementsonmultispacecraftmissions